Wildlife in the United States 



13 



corrected, additional State refuges are not so important 

 in tlie wildlife conservation scheme as woidd be the 

 better handUng of national lands and the development 

 of a consistent Nation-wide policy in game management 

 on Federal lands. There should be a national wildhfe 

 program administered and coordinated by a single 

 Federal wildlife agency. 



Units Owned by Local Government: Units owned by 

 other local governments are usually too small to be 

 entirely satisfactory as game management units or 

 refuges. Provisions should be made for the exchange 

 or purchase of many local areas, to consolidate them 

 with major holdings of either State or Federal organiza- 

 tions. In a few cases, such as at Lake Merritt, in 

 Oakland, CaUf., a small refuge has been biult up into a 

 public attraction of the first order. There is room for 

 many more such well administered local units through- 

 out the country. 



At present many cities and villages are interested in 

 such a progi'am, and every encouragement should be 

 offered them to continue such interest. 



Programs of Acquisition ; 

 Suggestions for Modification 



The present program of acquisition of migrator.y-bird 

 refuges by the Federal Government has as its objective 

 two major purposes. The predominant purpose is the 

 acquisition of all possible areas wliich by reason of their 

 present natural environment will attract migratory 

 birds in the nesting season, or which through develop- 

 ment or by restoration to primeval conditions may be 

 made attractive to nesting waterfowl. The second 

 objective contemplates the acquisition of more or less 

 extensive resting and feeding areas in the flight lanes 

 used by migratory birds spring and fall, in order that 

 they may be provided with conveniently situated sanc- 

 tuaries f urnisliing water, food, and cover in an unmolested 

 env-ironment, protected from both man and predators. 



At present, as pointed out by Sal.yer,- the major efforts 

 are being concentrated on the breeding-ground phase of 

 this migratory-bird-refuge restoration program, but 

 not entirely to the exclusion of efforts for providing 

 resting and feeding grounds. The size of refuges to be 

 so acqidred should as a rule be not less than 10,000 acres, 

 but single units where the en\'ironmental elements are 

 favorable might comprise 50,000 acres or more. An 

 ideal sj'stcm of refuges woidd contemplate a series of 

 major projects approximately 300 miles apart in each 

 one of the four major waterfowl flyways described by 

 Lincoln," that extend from the Canadian border to the 

 southern Umits of the United States, and in proximitj' 



' Salyer. J. C, U. A Program ok Waterfowl Restoration. U. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Circ. 339, U p.. 1934. 



' Lincoln, F. C. The Waterfowl Fltways or XORTn America. U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Circ. 342, 12 p. illus., 1935. 



to most, if not all, of these might well be created groups 

 of refuges smaller in size that would be beneficial in the 

 wildhfe restoration and conservation program. 



These are the ideal objectives. Their accomplish- 

 ment is largely contingent upon the availabihty of 

 adequate funds with wliich to carry them out, but in 

 some parts of the United States, notably where the 

 natural environmental conditions are most attractive 

 to nesting migratory birds, there should be a radical 

 change in point of view regarding the drainage of lands 

 and the ill-ad viscil use of water through waste and futile 

 reclamation projects. Without some such change in 

 point of \'iew, it will not be possible to accomplish fully 

 the objectives of the Biological Survej^ in the matter 

 of an adequate system of refuges. The critical situa- 

 tion of the waterfowl in 1934, following a series of un- 

 favorable 3'ears, has been elsewhere presented bj- Bell 

 and Preble,* their findings having been based on inten- 

 sive investigations by members of the Biological Sur- 

 vey and cooperating organizations and individual 

 sportsmen and other conservationists. 



Integration of Federal 

 And State Policies 



Federal and State Governments should work in 

 close cooperation in deahng with game problems and 

 as far as possible any causes of friction should here- 

 moved and questions of jm-isdiction settled. The 

 national forests are the natural reservoirs of most of 

 our large game, especially deer. The Forest Service 

 is charged with the general care of these forests, but 

 the game pohcy, or lack of pohcy, of some States in 

 which forests are located may hamper cooperation or 

 completely nullify well rounded forest management, 

 which should encompass all forest resources — game as 

 well as timber. For example, on many western na- 

 tional forests the grazing of domestic stock is an impor- 

 tant industry and may constitute the major use of the 

 land. In places, deer, elk, and other kinds of big 

 game in uncontrolled numbers seriously compete with 

 domestic stock for food, and overbrowsing by both 

 classes of animals may be seriously destructive to 

 forest reproduction. In addition, such intensive use 

 results in general watershed denudation, and this 

 greatly accelerates destructive erosion. Obviously 

 the urgent need is the regulation of numbers of both 

 stock and game in accordance with the food supply, 

 in such way that none of the conflicting interests will 

 be sacrificed. Such regulation is a dillicult and complex 

 problem at best, and calls for a comprehensive and 

 sustained plan of wildlife management. An adequate 

 solution of the i)rol)k'ni is virtually impossible where 

 dependent upon ])olicies changing with State politics. 



< Bell, W B., and I'reble, E. A. Status of Waterfowl in 1934. U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Misc. Publ. 210, IS p., illus. 1934. 



